Lawrence Aragon

The subsidiary of Hercules Capital has formed a new private credit lending programme following the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, which was a lender and banker to about half of the VC-backed tech and life sciences start-ups in the US.

If the FDIC doesn't find a buyer for SVB by Monday, some of its small tech company customers will likely struggle to meet their payrolls — and some may have no choice but to furlough employees or even file for bankruptcy protection, experts said.

A.R.I Venture Debt Opportunities Fund is in the market just as founder Zack Ellison is seeing a surge of interest from potential borrowers and investors desperate for returns in a market downturn.